my aunt says that if any more of my friends decide to visit my niece and nephew they're going to have to make them queue up and charge admissions. minyin came this morning and su-lin in the afternoon, and we lolled around with the kids. i suspect the kiddies were livelier around su-lin because she came bearing donuts. with minyin they were sleepy and shy. this, i introduced minyin, is also an auntie min. you have now two auntie mins. to which the reply was a plaintive but why? then my nephew ran to fetch a gigantic starfruit from the fridge. his sister only likes m-a-n-g-o, but he adores starfruits. according to my aunt, he was so pleased when he discovered it in the fridge last night that he tried to take it to bed with him, for fear it would have disappeared the next morning.

when su-lin came in my niece was lurking behind the sofa, and refused to come out, although she talked to us quite naturally and cheerfully for a good ten minutes. it turns out later that she hadn't got her shorts on, and was quite prepared to stay there until we left. and then my nephew had to go to the fridge to fetch his starfruit to show us again. and a kiwi. "furry fruit" he said, and then added "so cold," which made su-lin and i laugh, becos it made us think of williams carlos williams. and then we spent time volleyballing a pink balloon and duelling with a dolphin called bluey.